news
The primary factors regulating change in wild turkey populations can be summarized into two broad categories, survival and reproduction.
There are several factors that may affect survival rates of wild turkeys in Virginia. From recent research in Virginia we know that predators are the leading cause of mortality in our turkey population, but they should not necessarily be viewed as villains.
Predators do not take enough turkeys to limit turkey population growth rates; turkey populations can reach high densities and growth rates in areas with an abundance of predators.
The second leading cause of losses in our turkey population is poaching. Poaching is a problem in both fall and spring seasons and has a significant effect on survival rates. Poaching can be reduced by increasing awareness of the problem, increasing deterrence to the crime, and catching more poachers.
The Department’s Law Enforcement Division has begun new initiatives to address these issues affecting turkey poaching and significant results are expected. The Virginia State Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation has provided funding and support for some of these enforcement programs. Hunters can help by reporting violations to the Wildlife Crime Line at 800-237-5712.
Hunting is the third leading cause of mortality in our turkey population. Results of a recent study conducted by the Department in cooperation with the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources has found that high legal hunting mortality rates can affect survival. Hunting mortality was additive to natural and poaching moralities and has the potential to depress populations. In response to these findings, the Department recently shortened the fall season to increase survival rates and populations.
This year the Department added Thanksgiving Day back to the fall season to provide an opportunity for hunters to take turkeys on this traditional day of deer and turkey hunting in Virginia. The harvest on Thanksgiving Day is not expected to significantly effect growth rates and will provide a unique opportunity to Virginia hunters. The results of our research suggested that moderate legal harvest rates (10 percent) are the best means to achieve a combination of growth and high overall harvest (fall and spring). Higher harvest rates (20 percent) resulted in stable or declining populations and lower overall harvest. We expect Virginia’s current 6 week fall season, including Thanksgiving Day, will fall within the moderate harvest rate.
Thus predation, poaching, and hunting are the principal factors regulating survival rates. Two other significant factors may vary annually to modify the effects of these mortalities. These factors are mast crops and winter severity. Mast crops, or acorns, have been described as the staple of life for the wild turkey. White oak acorns are an important food source for wild turkeys and are commonly consumed when available. Other oaks, including red and chestnut, are also important food items. In years with good mast crops, turkey survival rates are higher. Hunting impacts are lower in good mast years and may be the result of less movement by the birds to find food. Less movement results in smaller home ranges. More simply put, turkeys appear to be harder to find and hunt during good mast crop years.
Winter severity may also negatively affect survival. In Virginia, severe winter conditions are normally not long enough to affect survival. Further north, where severe winter conditions can be more prolonged; turkey moralities due to starvation and exposure are more common.
Reproduction is the other critical factor affecting population changes. Reproduction is believed to be affected by a number of factors including weather, predators, foods, and hen condition. Cold wet weather may negatively impact survival of turkey poults. Poults are not able to thermoregulate until they are several days old, and cold wet weather can take a toll on turkey production. Wet weather during incubation may also indirectly affect hen nesting success by increasing predators effectiveness at locating the nesting hen. Hen condition is also hypothesized to be a potential factor, as hens in good condition are suspected to be better incubators and brooders than those hens in poor condition. However, our research found little difference in recruitment rates of hens in different weight classes. Among the 5 years of our turkey research we observed a variety of winter conditions and we suspected that reproduction might be lower following hard winters. Our results did not support this hypothesis however, as reproduction was similar regardless of winter conditions.
With this background information we can begin to evaluate current factors that will be affecting turkey populations this fall. Going into the spring we estimate that our turkey population was approximately 120,000 birds. This population was near record levels for Virginia. Record population levels for modern times probably occurred back in 1996 when we estimated our population to be approximately 130,000 birds. The decline in turkey numbers since 1996 was due to low productivity.
Productivity in 2 of the last 3 years was the lowest we’ve observed over the last 25 years. With the record low productivity, the shorter fall season helped maintain a good breeding population.
Recruitment this spring appears to be very good to excellent. Brood observations at the time this article was written were significantly higher than the recent years. With near record spring populations and good recruitment this spring we expect hunters will find good to excellent populations this fall. Drought conditions throughout most of the state are not expected to significantly impact turkey survival, but it may affect mast crops. At this time we do not know if the drought conditions will affect mast conditions. If the drought continues, low mast crops and good to excellent turkey populations should result in easier hunting and higher fall harvests than recent years.
In addition to opening Thanksgiving Day to turkey hunters, several other changes to turkey hunting regulations were approved by the Department for the next 2 years. These include: Expansion of the fall season from 2 weeks to 3 weeks in certain counties in the middle peninsula and northern neck; Opening Buchanan County and the southern half of Southampton County to a 2 week fall season; Opening spring gobbler season on the second Saturday in April; and giving a hunter the option of using all 3 turkey tags in the spring gobbler season, provided the hunter has not harvested a bird during the fall season, which continues to maintain the two bird bag limit. Turkey hunters should take note of these changes in the 1999-2000 Hunting and Trapping in Virginia brochure before heading afield this year.
Uploaded: 9/23/1999
Uploaded: 9/23/1999